VENLAFAXINE causing anxiety

Hang in there be strong ,I know is horrible yes it comes and goes it took 6 weeks to finally have better days and each day is better and better very slowly but yes it is happening I know the anxiety gets really bad don't go into increasing the medicine right now is the withdrawal not You remember that ,it will get better but it takes time ,sleep I take lots of naps it helps my brain to heal.

Just want to remind you that recovery from anxiety and/or depression always involves ups and downs, it's 2 steps forward and 1 step back. So please try not to panic, because that makes the anxiety worse. Concentrate on keeping calm, relax, slow breathing etc., as much as you can. You might need to increase the dosage or add on another antidepressant in the future, but you need to give the present dosage a chance to have it's effect so try not to worry at the moment. Hope that helps.

Dawn it sounds like you are in the wrong medicine I hope you get some help I saw this website Point of Return, for people like us struggling with medicine I personally I have not called them but you should read their stuff maybe it can help.

Dawn, I started on venlafaxine, 150mg per day, back in June. A week later the dosage was increased to 225mg per day which is what I am still on. MOST of the people here seem to be speaking about the WITHDRAWAL symptoms of the drug, NOT the initial side effects. If you look at the long list of venlafaxine side effects, I would bet that I went through 90% of them as my body was adjusting to the medication. But I rode it out because within 2 weeks of being on the drug my depression was severely reduced - I was just still going through the initial side effects... some EXACTLY as you describe. Yes, I had tightness in my chest that felts as if there were a round vice tightening and tightening. I would lay in bed and sweat until I was in a pool of my own sweat. Worst anxiety than I have ever had (and I was diagnosed with GAD 30 years ago and panic disorder in 1999. I continue to take 4mg of Xanax per day to combat the GAD and panic disorder) and I had waves of panic attacks, one after another. I felt the "numbness" that you describe. I felt nauseous but could not eat anything except applesauce.

I had extraordinarily severe headaches, a sort of loss of any strength (falling out of my wheelchair twice - which I have never done before - and i had to use my LifeLine pendant to call the fire department to pick me up and put me back in my chair), my blood pressure was going nuts and I had to monitor it four times daily, I could feel my pacemaker kicking in (verified by my device check last week), I was having mood swings (the venlafaxine actually caused me to develop hypergraphia and I went through hypomanic episodes - as if I had bipolar disorder - and would write 200 plus pages per day and be delighted but I was truly out of control). I had mild fevers - from 99-101º F. I would transfer from my bed to my wheelchair, or bend down for a bottle of water in the fridge and feel lightheaded, as if I might faint. I developed a red rash on my right arm. I felt confused at times, having to call friends (as I also developed agoraphobia) to make certain that I was lucid and not losing my mind.

While most antidepressants kill the libido, venlafaxine increased mine (I became impotent in 2006, so you can imagine how frustrating that was), and I had stomach pains - sharp stabbing pains - that made me certain that I had some sort of severe physical stomach ailment. My nose was stuffy yet when I tried to blow my nose, nothing moved.

The very strangest thing that happened was that I felt as if I had developed, overnight, phenomenally painful (the very worst pain that I have EVER felt) neuropathy. I am diabetic and my first warning sign was a tingling in my feet, so I know what pain neuropathy can cause - but I have had both of my legs amputated and I was not just experiencing “phantom pain,” I was feeling “phantom neuropathic pain” in my arms and hands and down to the tips of my non-existent toes. That proved to be caused by anxiety and I could pop four 1mg tablets of Xanax and - poof! - within 30 minutes, no pain at all. And a week later it just stopped.

The only existing side effect that I have is dry mouth. I have been through massive amounts of Biotine products - the oral rinse (great), the gel (OK) and the spray )lasts for about ten minuted). And I go through Burt’s Bees Lip Balm as if it were candy.

All of this was within a months time. But I endured it because the drug was working, I was less depressed: still not normal, I believe that I may be on venlafaxine for life. My doctor also supplemented the venlafaxine with a very small daily dose (5mg) of a fairly new antidepressant called Brintellix - about $500 for 30 5mg tablets.

I still am not certain of the trigger for this episode of severe major depressive disorder (which I was hospitalized for in 1999) but I do not dread each day. My sleeping patterns are so-so… sometimes I won’t sleep for two days and then, exhausted, I’ll sleep for 16 hours. I take enough sleeping aids at night to put an elephant down and sometimes they will work, sometimes they won’t.

The drug is still working for me and I’m glad that I consciously urged myself to go through the the side effects, which proved to be temporary (except for the dry mouth), to get to where I am today. I had some help in controlling the hypergraphia, I’ve been contacting friends that I’ve not seen in years and exactly one week ago I sat outdoors, chatting with my neighbors, for four hours. It has been over a year since I’ve done that.

If I were you, I would try to make it through any initial side effects and I would tend to agree with your doctor that your dosage may need to be increased. Suffer a bit and then feel better than you have in a long, long while. It’s worth it.

Best of luck…